Over the weekend, I spoke with Joe Gelarden, the reporter who covered the Brett Kimberlin saga for the Indianapolis Star in the early ’80s. Here is a clip from an eye-opening story written by Mr. Gelarden (.pdf) that details Brett Kimberlin’s alleged murderous plots to escape from prison and exact revenge on his enemies:

I have little sympathy for folks who plant bombs in public places, whether in Baghdad, Times Square, the London Subway or in a suburban shopping center in the heartland of America. I would hope those convicted while enjoying all the safeguards of the federal judiciary, learned their lessons in prison, and have become productive useful citizens.

I also hope those who have injured others along the way, would pay legally imposed damages to innocents they have injured.

I seem to remember that the DeLong family was trying to pick up a gym bag in a parking lot they thought had been dropped by a forgetful teenager. Their only crime was to attempt to save some other family the cost of a new pair of $50 sneakers. I believe the pain from the Speedway bomb blast was the direct cause of Carl DeLong’s suicide.

As for BK, and his claims of libel and character assassination, I seem to recall he was convicted of perjury in federal court before he got out of high school. I seem to remember his other claims seemed to vanish under close scrutiny. James Whitcomb Riley, the famed Hoosier Poet of the late 19th century once said: “If I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.”

‘Nuff said.

Joe Gelarden

I thank Mr. Gelarden for his time.

I am confident that we have not seen the end of this story. Stay tuned.

I’ve been doing some research in order to write a story for the Friday “Everyone Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day.” What I’m trying to find out is how a violent felon could get out of a fifty year sentence after only serving fourteen years. Do you have any insights that would be helpful?

He was sentenced prior to “Truth in Sentencing” Laws, and thus, had a different possibility for parole timeline than those sentenced after the Laws took effect. For example, when I drove truck back in the 1990s, I visited a Florida Penitentiary. Don’t know if it was State or Federal, as I was there to pick up a load of linen or some other product the Florida Pen made, in order to transport them to a Texas Pen (or elsewhere, but I dropped them off at a Texas JB Hunt terminal and picked up a different load). Anyway, as it was explained to me by the “shipping clerk”, a Florida Pen inmate, time served in Florida was rather surprising. Weeks were 40-hour work-weeks, meaning 7 days, 24 hours (168 hours) was 4.2 “weeks”, cutting the actual time by 4. Then there was “good behavior” time, which further reduced the time. Then there was “shock probation”, and regular probation, which had eligibilities below time sentenced (with time sentenced not on the standard calendar but on some hokey “work hours” schedule).

Instead of “shock probation” and “regular probation” that should be “shock parole” and “regular parole”. And from my understanding (IANAL), “regular parole” was possible after serving 25 percent of a sentence, which would allow for Kimberlin’s early release, as he served more than 25 percent of his sentence, but far less than half of his sentence.